Butterfly swirl soap

OK - made the soap today - with the butterfly swirl technique. I used the colors, purple, pink, green with a white soap base. Wow - I was nervous! Top turned out good, but we will see what the inside looks like! LOL. Also used the fragrance Faery Garden. Cross your fingers!!

Well......Popped out this am, and the soap is pretty, but not the butterfly swirl I was expecting. Next time I will make bigger circles and not be so hesitant.

It's pretty soap. Kind of has as landscape/seascape feel to it, even though the colors aren't what you'd expect for that sort of thing. I like the color combo, and the glycerin rivers in the white part give an interesting texture contrast.

Try using a bit less liquid and you'll avoid the glycerin rivers, if you wish. There are times they add a great deal to a soap though.

Usually people use a tall and skinny mold for the butterfly swirl because you get more length for the wings. I think it's harder to get the look in a loaf mold, but it can work.

What are you using for your swirl tool? This technique seems to work best if the soap is at a medium trace, where it's like a soft pudding, so a thin swirl tool won't move the soap much but will cut through it. From my own limited experience and seeing what other people use, something the thickness of a gear tie, a McDonald's straw, or a 1/4 dowel works pretty well. It's tough to get just right.

They make cool designs but I have the same thoughts as some of the others. Most people look at, use, or sell a single bar of soap so the effect of the butterfly is fleeting, I suppose just as a real butterfly can be.

I hope you don't mind some constructive feedback. I was looking again and I see most of the swirls you did in the middle of the soap. To get the wing effect, the pattern I have seen consistently is to start with your swirl tool going right down the wall where you have poured most of the colors and then looping out and back to the wall. I'll try to find a visual.

Here are two visuals for the two different patterns and of course you can make your own up, but the commonality is they they go down the "color wall" and then loop back through it and come up that side as well to finish. Hope that helps!

Thank you for your input. Really appreciate it. Yes, I know, I didn't grab enough of the color when I did my loops. I guess I was a little timid! LOL. So- those are glycerin rivers? Less water next time will work to solve that?

Great diagram by the way! Will try that next time.

Oh the fickle butterfly. It isn't easy - I have tried many, many times and only achieved it a few times. I think the bars are pretty as singles, even though it isn't a butterfly any longer.

Here is a link to an SMF challenge, which gives a similar effect and works well in a regular sized soap mold (vs. a tall & skinny). It might be worth a try.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59287&highlight=challenge

Butterflies are so elusive. I always start my swirl at the wall using a trace before pudding stage, not quite medium and a tad thicker than thin. I find I am lucky if I get one actual butterfly out or a 14 bar batch. Sometimes it takes a pair and occasionally a single bar will show a butterfly. Butterflles are just luck in my opinion. I have never been able to duplicate the one below

Yes. Using less water will decrease the heat of the gel phase you decrease the chances of glycerine rivers. Worth a go, esp when using TD.

Another attempt!

OK - here we go with another batch! Sage & Lemongrass this time. I used a sage green, black (activated charcoal), white, and mauve.

What a fascinating thread--thanks for posting pics! I like the first one, even if it may not have been what you were expecting. The colors are very nice. I'm not very experienced with using TD, but I'd really like to see the glycerin rivers in one of my next batches--they give such a very neat marbling effect, as you got in your first soap. So excited to see what you get for the second attempt.

Excellent diagram, Newbie. Thank you so much for sharing that.

What do people like to use for their swirling tool? I thought I had an actual hanger swirl tool that I purchased some time ago, but I went to make a batch of swirled soap last night and couldn't find it anywhere. (Colors were already mixed and everything. OOPS). I guess I need to make one from scratch...perhaps the aforementioned McD's straw over a section of clotheshanger wire would give the right thickness for this.

PS Divinegoddessoaps, How do you like the Fairy Garden F.O.? I think I have that one, got it from Nurture. Something about it reminds me of a scent from my childhood, but I can't place it. Need to try it in an upcoming batch.

Is it the TO that lets you get such definition of color between shades? or the trace when you pour? I have rarely ever been able to get that type of clean sharp lines.

Orchidgirl said:

PS Divinegoddessoaps, How do you like the Fairy Garden F.O.? I think I have that one, got it from Nurture. Something about it reminds me of a scent from my childhood, but I can't place it. Need to try it in an upcoming batch.

Click to expand...

Orchidgirl - I love the Fairy Garden FO, yes from Nurture. Very nice scent. I bought a Hanger tool from Brambleberry. I was using a hanger and straw, but didn't get good results. So I spring for the hanger tool. Looking forward to popping out the mold tomorrow and see what I get!

Selaine said:

Is it the TO that lets you get such definition of color between shades? or the trace when you pour? I have rarely ever been able to get that type of clean sharp lines.

Click to expand...

I soap as close to room temperature as I can (I live in Florida). I always go for slight to slight medium trace. I pour very close to the surface so the colors won't break through. If I'm doing Taiwan swirl - I do slight trace and pour colors from higher up to close to the surface - you mix it up. Even though I have been making soaps for a very long time, I'm very new to all these fabulous techniques AND I'm having such fun trying them! Some work - some don't! Oh well.... This soap I just made - I tilted the mold, and poured the colors at slight trace down the side (after I had poured the base color in the bottom)I used black, white, and mauve. Green base color. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

OMG OMG I did it!!

Wow - I think I did it!! Thrilled!

Like you, I've soaped for a very long time, but the techniques are all new. I remember taking a batch of CPOP to a convention in Kansas (over 16 years ago!) and explaining the process to soapers there. A lot of those people thought I was someones daughter then........ Now the science and techniques have come so far, I feel like a kindergartener amid a whole lot of Picassos!

Selaine said:

Like you, I've soaped for a very long time, but the techniques are all new. I remember taking a batch of CPOP to a convention in Kansas (over 16 years ago!) and explaining the process to soapers there. A lot of those people thought I was someones daughter then........ Now the science and techniques have come so far, I feel like a kindergartener amid a whole lot of Picassos!

Click to expand...

I agree with you completely! I feel like such a novice now. Doing my best with all these new techniques and I sure am having some fun!